If you have a few wishes in your pocket that you need sorting, tonight Monday 12 August is your lucky night.
The Perseid Meteor Shower occurs every year from mid-July to mid-August but due to the periodicity of the the shower, this year's event will be more intense than usual.
The Perseids are a result of a comet orbiting on a 133-year journey around the solar system into interstellar space, and back again.
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The Swift-Tuttle comet is responsible for the dust that produce the meteor shower every year, the comet is on a orbital resonance with the planet Jupitar of 1:11, and every 11 years the shower is that bit more intense in the inner solar system.
The dust cloud from which the material that will be seen burning up as it enters earth's atmosphere is around 1,000 years old, but newer material pulled of the cloud around 150 years ago can arrive one day before the traditional maximum of the annual shower.
And due to the 11-year period, Monday 12 August is the night that the relative young filament of dust pulled from the comet should arrive and create the intense and rare sight.
The Perseid meteor shower is named for where in the night sky the meteors seems to emerge from - the Perseus Family of Constellations. Co Galway is one of the best places in Ireland to view the shower on Monday, the darker areas the better.
The meteors will be seen to come from the Perseus region, home to the Pegasus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia constellations which will rise to the northeast from sunset - though you should take half-an-hour for your eyes to adjust. The region of space is easily identified by the 'Y'-shaped formation with a very bright Gamma Cassiopeia at the bottom of the 'Y'.
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